Bad Girls (48 page)

‘Skye!’ Amber said nervously as she stepped through the glass sliding entrance door and spotted Skye, whose expression wasn’t exactly welcoming. Skye caught sight of herself in one of the mirrors: her entire body looked like a coiled spring about to burst.

‘I wanted to explain – about the audition—’ Amber started, but Skye held up one hand, palm facing Amber, cutting her off.

‘I don’t want to hear it,’ she said, as the glass door slid open again and Joe appeared, his big frame blotting out the sunlight as he entered.

‘Hey, Skye,’ he said awkwardly.

‘Whatever,’ Skye said coldly, turning away, doing her best not to cry.

‘Am I late?’ Petal tripped through the entrance, sounding out of breath. ‘The traffic was terrible, it took me ages to get out of the Valley—’

In cut-offs, a strapless bright orange terry top, and flip-flops, she looked very LA; the only difference was that the long legs were dead white, the yellow of her hair glaringly artificial. LA girls tried to look as natural as possible: London girls didn’t even eat natural for breakfast.

‘I see you really made an effort to dress up for Brian’s final day here,’ Skye said snarkily.

Petal’s face fell as she looked around the lobby, taking in everyone else’s appearances. Joe, in his smart shirt and trousers; Amber, in her designer silk dress; even Skye was in a pretty, strappy sundress.

‘I didn’t think,’ she confessed.

‘Yeah, well, that wouldn’t be the first time, would it?’ Skye commented, dropping into one of the armchairs.

Petal bit her lip. ‘I’m so sorry about the video,’ she said, looking from Skye to Joe. ‘I really didn’t mean it all to blow up like that. I was just sharing it with a couple of mates – and then someone stole one of their phones—’

‘
Right
,’ Skye said sarcastically.

‘Hey, she’s just a kid. And they kicked her out too,’ Joe said to Skye, as Petal’s shoulders slumped.

‘What, you’re defending her now?’ Skye said to him furiously. ‘She ruined everything, and you’re
defending
her?’

The double doors that led through to the treatment facility swung open, and Dr Lucy emerged into the middle of this scene, Dr Raf on her heels.

‘Hello, everyone,’ she said brightly. ‘Well!’ She surveyed the group gathered in the lobby. ‘It’s very nice of you all to show up on Brian’s leaving day! Let me say a word here, before we go through to the meeting room.’ She held up one hand in a gesture rather like a priest absolving a penitent. ‘What’s done is done. You were all invited here in a spirit of forgiveness, to celebrate Brian’s treatment and recovery, and give him support.’

She tilted her head on one side, her smile fixed, not looking at anyone in particular as she continued: ‘Actions against the Cascabel policy were committed, and consequences have been taken. But now we’re moving on.’

God, she talks to us like we’re a bunch of idiot kids, Skye thought, annoyed, as Dr Lucy glanced sideways at Dr Raf, clearly expecting him to chime in.

Dr Raf, however, didn’t meet Dr Lucy’s gaze, didn’t even seem to realize she was looking at him. He was staring at Amber, and Amber was staring right back at him as if they were in some sort of trance.

Impatiently, Dr Lucy elbowed him, and he stammered something, turning to lead the way into the meeting room. Dr Lucy directed a stare at Amber that would have sliced right through her if it could, and raised her hand even higher, passing it across her already perfectly smooth black wing of hair.

Why’s she doing that? Skye wondered. She’ll just mess it up if she actually touches it – not that she needs to, she’s got that pony-tail sprayed into place with half a can of Elnett . . .

And then she realized. It was Dr Lucy’s left hand. And on the fourth finger was a large, shiny, square-cut diamond solitaire, which Dr Lucy was tilting back and forth to make sure it caught the light.

Oh.

A lot of things began to dawn on Skye, one after the other.

It’s Amber she’s staring at. It’s Amber she wants to tell that she’s engaged – and obviously, Dr Raf’s the fiancé. Poor guy.

Having gesticulated enough with her hand to call plenty of attention to her diamond, Dr Lucy let it fall to her side again, her smile even brighter, positively victorious.

‘Well, Brian will be waiting!’ she said. ‘This is one of the most important days in his life! Let’s all go and make it special for him, shall we?’

The Cascabel meeting room was eerily familiar to Petal, as if she were coming back to a family home. It had barely been ten days since she’d been kicked out, and she was surprised at how nostalgic she felt to be back here, in a room where she’d spent so much time kicking the chair legs or crying, bundled up in a blanket. And she was amazed at how happy she was to see Brian too, skinny Brian with his piercings and his slumped shoulders.

‘Dude!’ he said, almost running towards her to give her a hug. ‘How are you doing?’ He slapped her back awkwardly, as if she were a guy friend. ‘I missed having you here, you know?’ he said. ‘And Joe.’ He grinned shyly over her shoulder at his idol. ‘I mean, I missed everyone in group,’ he said, still hugging Petal. ‘But it was weird not having you round to talk music with.’

‘Brian,’ Joe said, striding up to him and executing the male hug and backslap so well that by the time he was released, Brian was pink with excitement at being greeted in such a friendly way by Joe. ‘Good to see you again, man. And well done for finishing treatment.’

Brian ducked his head, red to the tips of his ears.

‘Shall we get started?’ Dr Lucy, who seemed to be running this session, asked pointedly.

But Joe, taking his seat, indicating for Brian to sit next to him, ignored her; and there was no way that even Dr Lucy’s head-mistressy authority could prevail over a movie star who was used to having the eyes of the world on his smallest gesture.

‘First things first,’ Joe said in a leisurely drawl, stretching his long legs out in front of him, looking around the circle of chairs, his blue eyes passing over each participant in turn. He raised his hands in apology.

‘I’d like to point out the elephant in the room,’ he said. ‘Me and Skye weren’t taking this rehab as seriously as some of you, and I’m gonna apologize for that straight away. It wasn’t respectful.’ He grimaced. ‘I mean, I never thought rehab was a walk in the park, but what some of you have gone through – well, I don’t want you to think we were just pissing on it when we sneaked off and fooled around, OK? I’m real sorry about how everything went down.’

‘Me too,’ Skye chimed in, ridiculously happy that he’d named her. She wanted very badly for him to look at her: to smile, maybe. To remember what a great time they’d had together.

‘I’m very glad you realize that, Joe. And Skye,’ Dr Raf said, leaning forward, his handsome face concentrated. ‘You could seriously have damaged the recovery of some vulnerable patients.’

Dr Raf’s being very careful not to look at Amber now, Skye noticed. I wonder if Dr Lucy’s picking that up too?

‘I’m doing OK, Dr Raf,’ Brian chirped up. ‘I’m working the steps. I was just sorry that you guys left,’ he said, looking shyly at Joe and Skye. ‘It was cool having you around.’

‘And they were good in group,’ Mitch, the near-silent coke addict, chimed in, to everyone’s surprise; all the heads in the room turned as one to look at Mitch, who, uncomfortable as always at having any attention directed his way, started scratching his stubbly beard furiously in an effort to cope.

‘The last thing I wanted to do was to mess up anyone’s recovery,’ Skye said in a heartfelt tone. ‘I don’t mean to make this all about me, but I really do want to say that.’ She smiled at Brian. ‘This is about you getting clean. It’s your day. And we’re all really proud of you.’

‘That’s great, Skye,’ Dr Raf said, nodding. ‘We’re here to celebrate Brian. Let’s remember, the reason we do so much group work is for mutual support—’

‘I got triggered,’ Mitch blurted out, so loudly that Dr Raf broke off what he was saying. ‘I got triggered when all of that went down.’

He was scratching his beard now even more frantically; Skye could hear the hairs rasping against his nails.

‘Mitch?’ Dr Raf began. ‘I think—’

‘I used to do
coke
with
strippers
,’ Mitch announced at high volume. ‘
With
strippers,
off
strippers, you name it, I did it. And she shows up here –’ he pointed at Skye – ‘looking really hot, and talks about being a stripper and doing coke and all that, and I got really
triggered
.’

‘This is great, Mitch,’ Dr Lucy chipped in now, ‘but let’s put a pin in it till we can talk about it in a one-on-one session—’

But Mitch, having once started to talk in group, was now unstoppable. It was like a dammed-up fountain suddenly breaking its bonds and pouring itself out in an endlessly flowing gush of water.

‘I thought about it
all the time
,’ he continued, his eyes darting restlessly around the room. ‘Coke and strippers! All the time! Shit, you wouldn’t
believe
the amount of money I blew on that, back in the day! And then we heard they were actually doing it! Those two!’

His finger wobbled between Skye and Joe, as if anyone in the room needed precise indications about who he was referring to.

‘And
then
I went off the deep end!’ he said, snatching his hand back and using it to grate his cheek again. ‘I mean, they were actually
doing
it! In here! I thought I was gonna go nuts! And then I thought, shit, I’m actually a sex addict as well! Because I just kept having all these
pictures
in my
head –
of
her
—’

‘
Eew
,’ Skye said, wriggling uncomfortably in her seat as Mitch stared at her beadily.

‘Mitch—’ Dr Lucy tried again.

‘But I don’t even
blame
you two!’ Mitch went on, looking from Joe to Skye. ‘I don’t blame
you
, man!’ he said to Joe, giggling in a way that made Skye even more uncomfortable. ‘I’d
totally
hit that! Are you kidding me? You know who messed this all up? Who put all these thoughts in my head?
You!
’ He pointed accusingly at Petal, who jumped in shock.

‘What the hell were you
doing
,’ he continued, ‘sneaking around and taking
photos
of them? You put all these
ideas
in my head! All these
pictures
! I mean, before I was just
imagining
stuff, but after I knew they’d actually been
doing
it, I couldn’t stop
picturing
it! It was like I was going
insane
!’

You
are
freaking insane, Skye thought, her eyes meeting Joe’s for an agonized moment of embarrassment. Even Joe, who never lost his cool, had squinched up his face in an expression that said, louder than words, how much he wished to be somewhere else, anywhere but here.

‘Mitch, do you need to take a break?’ Dr Raf said.

‘
She
needs to take a break!’ Mitch said, narrowing his eyes at Petal, his finger never wavering from her. ‘She shouldn’t be here! I don’t blame
them
.’ His head wobbled again between Skye and Joe. ‘They were just doing what comes naturally! But
her
– sneaking around,
spying
on them, taking
photos
, showing them to the
papers
—’

Skye realized suddenly what this was about: Mitch was dying of frustration that he hadn’t been the one to spy on her and Joe. He couldn’t bear it that Petal had seen them, and he hadn’t.

‘
You –
this is all
your
fault!’ Mitch was almost sobbing now as he accused Petal. ‘You ruined
everything
! You got them kicked out . . . we were such a nice group . . . you, sneaking around, spying on them . . . you spoiled little rich kid with nothing better to do! You and all your daddy issues!’

‘Mitch,
please
,’ Amber said. ‘You’re really picking on her—’

Petal’s head was ducked, her cheeks flushed red with anger and embarrassment.

‘What
are
you! Some sort of peeping Tom?’ Mitch snapped at Petal. ‘You should be
ashamed
of yourself!’

‘
Mitch!
’ Dr Lucy leaned forward and held up a hand right in Mitch’s face, which actually had the effect of silencing him. ‘Please respect the rules of the session!’

Oh, thank God, Skye thought, relaxing slightly in her chair. Finally, things are calming down. I never thought I’d be grateful to Dr Lucy . . .

‘Having said that,’ Dr Lucy said, looking around the circle of chairs, ‘I think Mitch is vocalizing an important outstanding issue for the group, which we do need to resolve to give everyone some closure. Particularly as it’s Brian’s final day. We want to send him out into the world with no unfinished business here.’

She smiled smugly at Petal.

‘It’s true that Skye and Joe went behind everyone’s backs,’ Dr Lucy went on, ‘and they’ve apologized for that. But the real issue of betrayal is when someone takes private business in rehab to the outside world, and
that
is what Mitch is confronting Petal about.’ Dr Lucy folded her arms across her chest. ‘I think we all feel betrayed by you, Petal, don’t we? This would be a really good opportunity for you to talk about what you did, and apologize to the group. I’m concerned that you may be underestimating the seriousness of your action. This is the worst betrayal of group trust we’ve ever had in Cascabel history.’

‘Lucy, this is neither the time nor the place—’ Dr Raf said urgently, twisting to try to look her in the face.

Good luck with that, Skye thought, staring wide-eyed at the scene developing in front of her. She’s got the bit between her teeth now.

‘This whole situation has been very difficult for all of us!’ Dr Lucy was saying, her tone as bright and sharp as the diamond on her finger. ‘Very difficult
indeed
! And
you
, Petal, are the one who’s let us down the most!’

Petal raised her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, taking quantities of her eyeliner with them. Her swollen eyes were as red as her cheeks, and just as angry.